WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:13.200 This is Hacker Public Radio episode 4,990 for Friday the 5th of April 2024. 00:13.200 --> 00:18.200 Today's show is entitled Playing Civilization 3 Park 1. 00:18.200 --> 00:21.920 It is part of the series computer strategy games. 00:21.920 --> 00:27.360 It is the 300th show of Arcocah and is about 15 minutes long. 00:27.360 --> 00:29.960 It carries a clean flag. 00:29.960 --> 00:37.080 The summary is, we begin to look at the details of playing this game. 00:37.080 --> 00:45.200 Hello, this is Ahoca, welcome to you to Hacker Public Radio and another exciting episode 00:45.200 --> 00:49.920 in our ongoing series on strategy gaming. 00:49.920 --> 00:56.360 And I'm going to continue our look at Civilization 3 by starting to dig into the details 00:56.360 --> 00:58.600 of how you play the game. 00:58.600 --> 01:06.200 Now, for the purposes of this discussion, I'm just going to say, I am using Civilization 01:06.200 --> 01:07.840 3 complete. 01:07.840 --> 01:14.440 This is an all-in-one addition that incorporates the two expansions, conquests, and play 01:14.440 --> 01:15.840 the world. 01:15.840 --> 01:19.520 This is readily available for multiple sources. 01:19.520 --> 01:26.600 Now, when you look at how humans settle in new lands, you see that one of the biggest 01:26.600 --> 01:31.920 issues is to look at the land and figure out what it is best used for. 01:31.920 --> 01:38.260 Now, I used to teach economic geography, and this was a determining factor in where people 01:38.260 --> 01:39.260 settled. 01:39.260 --> 01:45.760 Access to waters is necessary to irrigate crops, and you also need good farmland. 01:45.760 --> 01:50.640 So when you start thinking about early civilizations, you know, they're always on rivers. 01:50.720 --> 01:58.680 All right, the tiger's in new fraties, the Nile, the Yellow River, and so on, the Ganges. 01:58.680 --> 02:04.360 All right, this is just basics, really. 02:04.360 --> 02:10.560 But you also need access to other resources, stone for building, timber, clay for making 02:10.560 --> 02:13.040 pots and so on. 02:13.040 --> 02:18.900 Now, in Civilization 3, and indeed all of the Civilization games, it's also important 02:18.940 --> 02:21.540 to take a look at your resources. 02:21.540 --> 02:26.460 One of the biggest mistakes new players make is to ignore the land or fail to develop 02:26.460 --> 02:29.060 it properly. 02:29.060 --> 02:34.860 In Civilization 3 and later versions, this means building worker units and putting them 02:34.860 --> 02:39.100 to work, building roads, mines, and irrigation. 02:39.100 --> 02:43.180 Now, this is good, but you can do a better job with a little research into land types 02:43.180 --> 02:46.580 in the game, and what cities can handle. 02:46.580 --> 02:51.660 For research, a good starting point is the built-in documentation, which is called the Civil 02:51.660 --> 02:57.860 Opedia, and you can access that while you're in the game. 02:57.860 --> 03:02.540 So it's very handy, it's generally accurate. 03:02.540 --> 03:08.060 Every once in a while, the Civil Opedia tells you something that just isn't true. 03:08.060 --> 03:12.340 Sometimes this is because the programming changed along the way, and no one get around 03:12.340 --> 03:15.700 to updating the documentation. 03:15.700 --> 03:19.500 If you think you've read across something like this, you can check one of the fan sites 03:19.500 --> 03:23.540 like Civ Fanatics or Apoliton. 03:23.540 --> 03:29.100 If the documentation got it wrong, these sites will mostly have most likely have the right 03:29.100 --> 03:30.100 info. 03:30.100 --> 03:38.940 Now, the first point is that in all Civilization games, it is cities that produce things 03:38.940 --> 03:44.820 and it is cities that work the land with the population each city has available. 03:44.820 --> 03:49.580 Don't be fooled by national borders that arise as your culture grows. 03:49.580 --> 03:54.700 Your borders may well include tiles that no city can work because the tiles are not within 03:54.700 --> 03:58.420 the area of any city. 03:58.420 --> 04:05.500 Cities in Civilization 3 can work an area that looks like a letter X that is somewhat distorted 04:05.500 --> 04:09.820 because of the isometric view of the map. 04:09.820 --> 04:15.220 The tiles are all squares as they were in the first two games and would be again in Civilization 04:15.220 --> 04:16.460 4. 04:16.460 --> 04:23.420 It is with Civilization 5 that they switched to hexagons in place of squares. 04:23.420 --> 04:27.460 When you settle the city, that squares sits at the center. 04:27.460 --> 04:31.460 Then around that square, you can place eight more squares. 04:31.460 --> 04:33.860 One at each side and one at each corner. 04:33.860 --> 04:38.460 You now have nine squares in a 3 by 3 pattern. 04:38.460 --> 04:44.380 You extend each side by one square, adding three squares to each side but not adding anything 04:44.380 --> 04:46.420 at the corners. 04:46.420 --> 04:51.860 You now have the cross shape and I will use the terminology of synth players and call it 04:51.860 --> 04:59.940 the big fat cross abbreviated to BFC, which totals 21 squares. 04:59.940 --> 05:01.580 Make sure you learn this. 05:01.580 --> 05:09.340 It is key, no city can work a tile that is not in its own BFC. 05:09.340 --> 05:15.660 Second, it takes one citizen to work a square. 05:15.660 --> 05:22.980 So if you have a city with a population of 3, only a maximum of 3 squares can be worked. 05:22.980 --> 05:29.740 Now, you want to develop your squares to increase their productivity. 05:29.740 --> 05:35.700 First, every citizen in your city requires two food just to stay alive. 05:35.700 --> 05:40.780 If you can produce more than two food per citizen, the excess will accumulate in your food 05:40.780 --> 05:44.540 box until you have enough to add another citizen. 05:44.540 --> 05:50.820 Then that citizen will require two food but will be available to work another tile. 05:50.820 --> 05:55.420 If however you produce less food than two per citizen, the difference will be drawn out 05:55.420 --> 06:02.380 of the food box and if it gets empty, you lose a citizen. 06:02.380 --> 06:04.540 Death by starvation. 06:04.540 --> 06:08.180 So we have a simple now fuzion model going here. 06:08.180 --> 06:13.180 Now when you settle a city, if you pick a good spot, you may have one or two tiles that 06:13.180 --> 06:17.340 already produce two or even three food. 06:17.340 --> 06:21.780 But in general, to increase food production, you need to build irrigation, which is done 06:21.780 --> 06:29.060 with your worker units and requires adjacency to fresh water or to another irrigated tile. 06:29.060 --> 06:34.220 But to build units like workers, you need production, which is shown as shields and that comes 06:34.220 --> 06:35.940 from building mines. 06:35.940 --> 06:40.140 Another action that workers can undertake. 06:40.140 --> 06:45.580 You can increase the productivity of your city by building certain buildings, but buildings 06:45.580 --> 06:48.740 require gold to maintain them. 06:48.740 --> 06:53.060 One of the best sources of gold is tiles with roads on them, where the gold represents 06:53.060 --> 06:56.420 the trade that can occur with roads. 06:56.420 --> 07:02.780 So, borrowing any special resource you have three things that a tile can contribute. 07:02.780 --> 07:06.860 Food, production, and gold. 07:06.860 --> 07:12.860 And your worker units can increase the amount each tile contributes by building irrigation, 07:12.860 --> 07:15.380 mines, and roads. 07:15.380 --> 07:17.980 So this is your starting point. 07:18.020 --> 07:22.700 You want to identify the best tiles in the BFC of your city. 07:22.700 --> 07:28.260 Make sure your citizens are working those tiles, and improve them as necessary to increase 07:28.260 --> 07:34.300 their contribution by using your worker units. 07:34.300 --> 07:42.580 Now as for the different tile types and their yields, there is a nice and concise summary 07:42.580 --> 07:48.380 at strategy wiki I've put a link in the show notes for the terrain tile types. 07:48.380 --> 07:52.980 And since they each have a distinct appearance, you can quickly pick them up. 07:52.980 --> 07:56.700 But note that you can right click on any tile and get a pop up window that will tell 07:56.700 --> 08:00.580 you what kind of tile it is and what the yields are. 08:00.580 --> 08:07.220 In Civilization 3, any tile within your city can be made to produce something, often, 08:07.220 --> 08:11.620 several things, just by putting someone to work on it. 08:11.620 --> 08:16.980 And you can increase the yields by developing the tile with one of your worker units. 08:16.980 --> 08:22.700 So if you have a hill tile, it will produce one food and one shield if a citizen is placed 08:22.700 --> 08:24.380 on it. 08:24.380 --> 08:30.060 But you can develop it by building a mine and that adds two shields to the yield. 08:30.060 --> 08:34.500 Now building a mine is the only thing you can do with hills, you cannot build irrigation 08:34.500 --> 08:36.500 on them. 08:36.500 --> 08:40.820 Another possible way to add production is to develop a mountain tile. 08:40.820 --> 08:46.180 They do not produce any food at all and cannot be irrigated, but they will produce one 08:46.180 --> 08:53.700 shield if a citizen is placed there and building a mine also adds two more shields. 08:53.700 --> 09:02.700 So these tiles can be summed up as hills, one food and one shield if they are undeveloped. 09:02.700 --> 09:08.300 One food and three shields if they have a mine. 09:08.340 --> 09:21.300 So if you had both of those tiles in the BFC of your city, which one would you choose to put 09:21.300 --> 09:22.300 to work? 09:22.300 --> 09:29.940 Obviously, the hills tile is better by producing one food, so that would be the preference. 09:29.940 --> 09:36.740 Now also note that you cannot have both mines and irrigation on the same tile, building 09:36.740 --> 09:41.620 one will remove the other. 09:41.620 --> 09:47.100 Now if you open your city screen by clicking on the city, you can see where your citizens 09:47.100 --> 09:53.260 are assigned because there will be icons of the yield on the square being worked. 09:53.260 --> 09:58.660 If you click on that square while in the city screen, that worker will be removed from 09:58.660 --> 10:01.900 work and turned into an entertainer. 10:01.900 --> 10:06.260 Now this is something you want to avoid in most circumstances. 10:06.260 --> 10:11.260 You want to keep your citizens productively working if at all possible. 10:11.260 --> 10:16.500 Now three more tiles you will frequently encounter are planes. 10:16.500 --> 10:25.300 Now planes will produce one food and one shield if undeveloped or two food and a shield 10:25.300 --> 10:32.380 if irrigated or one food and two shields if mine. 10:32.380 --> 10:44.380 The grasslands will produce at least two food and possibly one shield undeveloped. 10:44.380 --> 10:47.980 Certain grasslands will do that and others will. 10:47.980 --> 10:54.380 You will get an additional food if you irrigate that tile or an additional shield if you 10:54.380 --> 10:56.380 mine it. 10:56.380 --> 11:05.020 Now forests will produce one food and two shields undeveloped but there really isn't 11:05.020 --> 11:07.420 anything you can do to develop a forest. 11:07.420 --> 11:10.860 So let's just one food and two shields. 11:10.860 --> 11:14.820 Now back to the grasslands we said some of them produce shields. 11:14.820 --> 11:21.060 Now these are what are called bonus tiles and you can usually tell because they'll be 11:21.060 --> 11:23.380 a little white dot in the center of the tile. 11:23.380 --> 11:27.460 But again as with all tiles you can right click on the tile and read out the yields on 11:27.460 --> 11:29.860 the pop-up to be sure. 11:29.860 --> 11:35.380 If you put a mine on one of the bonus grassland tiles you will get an additional shield 11:35.380 --> 11:38.260 for a total of two shields. 11:38.260 --> 11:43.140 Or you can irrigate it to get a total of three food and if it is a bonus tile you will 11:43.140 --> 11:45.260 get one shield as well. 11:45.260 --> 11:50.580 So those bonus tiles are the best ones you can have ignoring special resource tiles because 11:50.660 --> 11:56.180 you can get a total yield of four combining food and shields from the one tile. 11:56.180 --> 11:59.900 And in the early game that is very important. 11:59.900 --> 12:03.540 And as the early game that will make a break your outcome you need to carefully guide 12:03.540 --> 12:08.100 your sieve in the early turns to get on a winning path. 12:08.100 --> 12:12.780 Now there are some other tiles that you may encounter. 12:12.780 --> 12:15.820 Coast tiles. 12:15.820 --> 12:24.740 Those will produce one food but if you build a harbor they'll produce an additional food. 12:24.740 --> 12:29.940 Now post tiles are not land. 12:29.940 --> 12:37.740 They are the shallow water tiles along your coast. 12:37.740 --> 12:45.620 And those are distinct from ocean and generally the difference is that ocean tiles are 12:45.660 --> 12:53.700 very dark and coast tiles are lighter in color. 12:53.700 --> 12:57.300 Desert tiles are going to be some of those. 12:57.300 --> 13:00.820 If I developed will produce one shield. 13:00.820 --> 13:05.780 You can put irrigation on it. 13:05.780 --> 13:14.740 It will give you one food and one shield or you can mine it and get two shields. 13:14.820 --> 13:21.540 Remember you either or with mining and irrigation you can do one of the other you can't do both. 13:21.540 --> 13:23.980 Flood planes. 13:23.980 --> 13:29.860 Those will produce three food but zero shields. 13:29.860 --> 13:37.220 If undeveloped if you irrigate a flood plane tile you can get four food or you can put 13:37.220 --> 13:44.700 a mine on it and get one shield in addition to the three food. 13:44.940 --> 13:49.580 Now the flood planes should be very desirable. 13:49.580 --> 13:55.180 Now the one thing about it is that there is a chance that flood planes will produce a 13:55.180 --> 13:57.940 disease outbreak. 13:57.940 --> 14:05.380 So you don't want to go crazy with it but those do produce the most food so that's worth noting. 14:05.380 --> 14:07.220 Food is very important. 14:07.300 --> 14:16.260 Jungle tiles will produce one food and that's about it you can't develop them any further. 14:16.260 --> 14:20.900 Ocean tiles are similar to coast. 14:20.900 --> 14:25.860 You can get one food from them and then if you build a harbor you get one additional 14:25.860 --> 14:28.180 food. 14:28.180 --> 14:38.660 Then there are sea tiles that are again similar these pay one food and additional food 14:38.660 --> 14:44.740 with the harbor and finally tundra tiles will produce one food undeveloped but if you put 14:44.740 --> 14:49.820 a mine there you can get an additional shield. 14:49.820 --> 14:56.700 So some explanations as we noted forest and jungle tiles cannot be developed. 14:56.700 --> 15:03.020 However you can clear those tiles with your worker forest when cleared will produce whatever 15:03.020 --> 15:10.860 is under the forest often grassland but sometimes planes or tundra and jungle will typically 15:10.860 --> 15:16.420 clear into planes and there are the three water tiles. 15:16.420 --> 15:23.940 Coast is water tile adjacent to land see is a somewhat shallower water tile and ocean is 15:23.980 --> 15:34.460 the deep water tile and you can distinguish them by the colors see as lighter blue than ocean. 15:34.460 --> 15:39.860 So I think that's enough for this particular episode this is a hookah for hacker public 15:39.860 --> 15:48.060 radio signing off and is always encouraging you to support free software bye bye. 15:48.060 --> 15:53.020 You have been listening to hacker public radio as hacker public radio does work. 15:53.020 --> 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